Star Fox: Cornerian Corruption
by Indestructible-Loner
Summary: The story of a group of 'ruffians' trying to make their way through life while dealing with the Cornerian Government. Rated M for strong language, violence, blood and gore, and some sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, this is my first fic here, so, forgive me if this doesn't turn out perfectly.

* * *

Chapter 1: Perfect Insanity

On Corneria, things may seem peaceful, but things are not always as they seem

On Corneria, things may seem peaceful, but things are not always as they seem. Some may think things are just perfect and could not get any better, but nothing could be further from the truth. To some, things aren't that hard, to others, they get bad, but to the rest, things are hell. And that…is where the story begins.

"Shit!" thought the black-furred wolf to himself as he dove behind a dumpster in an alley, "These guys are persistent."

"He went this way," yelled a Cornerian police officer, leading four other officers down the alley, all five running right past the wolf.

"Yes," the wolf shouted in his mind, quietly getting up and running out the alley in the opposite direction as the police, completely losing them.

It was currently midnight in Corneria, so he blended in quite well in the dark, the only thing that would give him away was his hair, which was a deep red. Now that he was out in the open, he was quite visible, it seemed as if everything was against the wolf tonight, at very least, the police and light definitely was. If the police got back on this street, the streetlights could do very little else to help, he couldn't do a better job than they even if he screamed 'I'm right here.'

"That was too fucking close," he muttered, "You'd think they'd have forgotten about me by now…guess that thousand credits they charged me for littering is still a sore subject."

"There he is," a voice shouted from behind him, "Stop right there!"

"Fuck," the wolf shouted, taking off like a bullet down the street. The officer didn't even hesitate to pull out his pistol and fire.

The bullet soared through the air at a speed that made the wolf look like he was crawling. The bullet flew right past his head, missing him by just an inch. The wolf finally found the building he was looking for, and old warehouse. He figured if he had the cops on his tail, he might as well lose 'em. He ran right through the two large doors that were barely open. Within, it was almost too dark to see, the only light visible being from the streetlights pouring in from the doors.

The five officers stopped just outside, four of them drawing their pistols. They entered the warehouse one-by-one. It took them a moment before their eyes adjusted to the dark building. The officer leading the group felt around the wall for a minute before finding a switch. He flipped it up and the lights came on. It wasn't really bright, but enough was bright enough to light up the inside of the warehouse.

The place was full of crates made of steel and wood. The only problem presented to them was the fact that the building was fairly large and they had no idea where the wolf had hidden, which made things extremely dangerous for them.

"Alright, let's split up, chances are we'll never find him if we stick together," the group leader said, "Though it's risky, we haven't got much of a choice."

None objected, so they split up. Things couldn't have gone much better for the wolf. It wasn't long before one officer walked past the wolf. The dark-furred wolf had taken his scythe off his back and gotten ready for a fight. He quickly positioned himself behind the police officer, brought the blade around in front of his neck, and pulled back, slicing his head clean off, his body dropping to its knees before falling forward and creating a puddle of blood.

"One down," the wolf whispered. He looked at the severed head for a moment before moving on. It wasn't long before an officer spotted him. The wolf quickly noticed and got behind a crate, narrowly avoiding a bullet. The cop quickly ran to the wolf's location, a fatal mistake. The wolf did the same thing he did before, but instead of removing the officer's head, he severed his left leg.

The officer dropped his gun and began screaming in pain, looking down at his leg, sheer horror on his face. The wolf drove the opposite end of the scythe, which was a spike, into the officer's chest, driving the spike through his heart and ending his life.

"Two," the wolf growled as he ripped the scythe from the body. He narrowed his eyes at the body before he moved on.

It wasn't long before the wolf found a third officer. This one didn't notice him, which worked to the wolf's advantage. He snuck up behind him and swung his blade with more strength than he had with the other two, completely severing off the guard's arm which he held the pistol in. The guard screamed in pain and grabbed his shoulder with his left arm. Before he could do anything else, the wolf quickly sliced him in half.

The officer's upper body landed on his back, his legs falling backwards as well. The officer died relatively quickly there on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding both halves of his body. "Three." The wolf stepped right through the puddle on his way to find another officer, deciding to lead him into a trap. He quickly found a fourth and made a noise to attract his attention before moving a little bit away from the area.

The officer quickly noticed the trail. "No," he whispered, quickly becoming angry. He followed the footsteps before reaching the end, only to be greeted by the scythe the wolf had. The scythe had found its way into his chest, carving its way right through to the other side, but not before it ripped his heart up. The policeman had no time to react and his world quickly darkened around him.

The wolf had dispatched of all officers but one. He quickly began searching the warehouse for him. In the end, it wasn't he who found the officer, but the officer who found him. "Been a long time since we've last met, 'Scythe," the officer said, holding his pistol right up against the wolf's head.

"And it shall be the last time we meet," the wolf, obviously called 'Scythe' said.

"Pity it had to end this way," the officer said, "We used to be friends…what happened?"

"Long story short, you decided to join the police force, lackeys of the politicians, who are nothing more than individuals who are corrupt and power-hungry," Scythe replied.

"Some may be that way, but not all are," the officer said.

"Pity that the 'some' are most, if not all," the wolf replied.

"You surely can't believe that," the officer said in disbelief.

"You'd be amazed at what I believe," the wolf said, his grip on the scythe tightening, obviously going unnoticed by the officer.

"Enlighten me," the officer said, "I d-"

Without warning, Scythe quickly swung his weapon up and severed the officer's hand. The officer screamed in agony and fell to his knees, his left hand gripping his right wrist.

"You bastard," the officer howled, tears building up in his eyes.

"Call me whatever you want," the wolf growled, walking behind the officer and kicking him forward, stepping around to his right side and placing his left foot on his back, "Because you're going to die tonight, I don't give a fuck how close we used to be, the individual you used to know is gone, he died a long time ago."

"Son of a bitch," the officer growled, the tears escaping.

"Better get it all out now," Scythe said, sliding the blade of his weapon under the officer and beginning to slowly drive the tip into his chest.

"Wait, please, don't," the officer pleaded with the wolf, tears now flowing like a river, fear obviously taking hold of him.

"It's too late for begging," the wolf said as the tip of his scythe broke the skin.

"I'll do anything, anything," the officer cried, trying everything he could to save himself.

"Then shut the fuck up," Scythe yelled, taking his foot off the officer's back and pulling the scythe away.

"Thank you," the officer said standing up, "Thank you."

"Time to die!" Scythe swung his weapon around and removed the officer's head.

Before his body dropped to the ground, the wolf buried the scythe in its stomach and lifted it over his head and stopping once he had it on the other side of his body, effectively tossing it to the ground on the opposite side of himself. The wolf looked at the severed head for a moment before giving it a kick, sending it flying. Having disposed of all officers, the wolf left the warehouse, only being greeted by a darkness that engulfed all light.

He awoke in his own bed, on the carrier he had lived on for the past five years. Scythe sat up and shook his head. A dream, nothing more. Scythe shook his head, the dream fresh in his mind. "Similar," he said, his mind turning to what really happened. In reality, the officer had never gotten a chance to point a gun at Scythe before losing his hand, though the rest was real, and despite the fact it had happened over five years ago, the memory was still fresh in his mind.

"They had it coming," he said quietly, an evil grin making itself visible on his face, "They made their choice when they decided to side with the government, and whether they, and the rest of the police know it or not, they will have to accept the outcome, no matter how horrible it might be."

Scythe sat on his bed in silence, the grin still visible on his face, his mind focused on that one memory.

After a short time, he swung his legs over his bed and stood up. He looked down at himself. From what he could see, he was wearing nothing more than his pants, leaving the rest of his body exposed. He let out a sigh and began to make his way towards the bathroom, intending to take a shower before starting the day. He and the others could be offered a job, and he figured he'd be better off clean than not. "Gonna be a long day."


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, here's chapter two, hope you like it.

* * *

Chapter 2: Criminals

Scythe had finished up his shower, gotten dressed, and began to make his way towards the bridge

Scythe had finished up his shower, gotten dressed, and began to make his way towards the bridge. His fur would reflect what little light there was on the ship. The carrier was kept relatively dim, but not so dim as to hamper vision. As Scythe entered the bridge, he was greeted by the sight of a black and white furred wolf, the leader, "Shadow."

"Anything," Asked Scythe.

Shadow didn't respond immediately. He simply stared out into space. A few moments later, he shut his eyes and began speaking.

"Easy money," he replied, "We've been offered a job on taking down a drug dealer, not offered by the government, a businesswoman, but it's still a job…five hundred credits."

"I'll join you on whatever mission you accept," Scythe said, "As long as it pays."

"Then I'll bring us in," Shadow spoke, making his way over to a control panel and pressing a few keys. Shortly after, the ship turned to its right, revealing the planet of Corneria.

"Shouldn't be too long before we're on Corneria," Shadow said, walking back over to the window and staring out at the planet.

"I look forward to taking this bastard out," Scythe spoke, chuckling, "Shouldn't be too hard, as long as the police don't bother us."

Just as Shadow had said, it didn't take long for the ship to enter Corneria. It soared through the skies of Corneria, soon finding the spaceport and landing in a free dock. The weather was less than pleasant, a heavy storm going on outside, something that wouldn't bother the group one bit. The group quickly got ready, all of them wearing similar trench coats and boots, all of which being black in color. Some wore black shirts, the rest didn't wear anything underneath their trenches, showing off the fur on their bodies.

Shadow and Scythe wore Torn Blue Jeans, the cuts easily showing off their leg fur. Another wolf, his fur completely black, save his hair and fingertips, which were a deep red, wore plain blue jeans, no tears visible. The third, a black-furred wolf, save the hair on his head, which was a deep blue, wore black jeans, which showed no cuts. The fifth and final member, whose fur, like all the others was black, save his hands and hair, which were deep red, wore blue jeans, like two others, cuts were not visible. On top of the clothing, all four members were the same type of accessory: Sunglasses.

Shadow quickly led the other four through the starport and into the streets of Corneria.

"Intel says he's close to this location, wears a black top hat," Shadow said, looking around. A top hat in Corneria is, as one would guess, pretty easy to find, and as expected, Shadow spotted him just across the street. Shadow then instructed the other four to wait in a nearby alley while he led the dealer into the alley, where they would dispose of him.

As instructed, the four did just that and entered the alley they had been instructed to wait in. Shadow quickly placed himself to the left of the dealer, leaned over, and whispered in his ear.

"I hear you're the one to talk to about getting high," he whispered.

The dealer held completely still for a moment before responding. "That's right."

"How about we take care of business in the alley," Shadow asked.

"Sounds like a deal to me," the dealer said, "Lead the way." Shadow nodded and began to make his way over towards the alley. Without Shadow's noticing, the dealer turned to an unseen individual and gave him a thumbs-up before following Shadow into the alley. The other four were completely out of sight, hiding behind whatever cover was available.

"Alright, what do you want," the dealer asked, "I got it all."

"You got blood," Shadow asked.

"I don't think I've ever heard of that," the dealer replied, sounding a bit confused.

"Oh, I think you have," Shadow said, reaching inside his trench and grabbing his hidden Katana.

"Listen, I've seen every kind of drug, 'Blood' doesn't exist," the dealer said, a little frustrated.

"I wasn't talking about drugs," Shadow said, quickly bringing out his Katana and ripping off the dealer's head.

The Katana would've cleanly removed the dealer's head had it been any ordinary katana, but this one had small, razor-sharp points and small chips missing, and so it left a less than clean cut along the dealer's neck. The head quickly dropped to Shadow's feet, the face buried in the ground. The body soon fell backwards against the wall, blood spraying up against it for a short amount of time.

The other four members got out from behind cover and took a moment to see what Shadow had done. Scythe chuckled while the other three remained silent.

"Nice," he said.

"Freeze," a voice shouted, "Hands up in the air or I shoot!"

"Shit," Shadow said, "Let's move!"

He didn't need to say that twice. All five took off in the opposite direction of the voice. The group had barely started to run when they heard a gunshot. The bullet barely missed Shadow and instead hit a wall. The group quickly got out onto another street and quickly disappeared into the crowd. Sadly, however, that didn't help, as when the police got out into the street, they began firing in all directions. Naturally, everyone began to panic; screams were heard as some civilians were shot, dropping to the ground dead.

"Bastards," Scythe growled, attempting to run back, only to be stopped by the largest of the group.

"You're not going anywhere, 'Scythe," the largest, a black wolf with deep red hair and fingertips, said as he grabbed the other's right arm.

"Damn it, 'Fear,' let me go," Scythe yelled, turning to face the larger wolf, getting a good look at the 'X' pattern scar across the wolf's left eye.

"You're playing right into their hands," the wolf, obviously nicknamed 'Fear,' said.

Scythe growled, but knew the larger wolf was right, so instead began to follow the others. The group soon reached the spaceport again, only to find five members of the Cornerian Military, all white felines, standing right outside of it.

"Fuck," Scythe yelled, quickly getting the attention of the soldiers. One of the soldiers made his way over to the wolf.

"This your carrier," asked the soldier.

"It belongs to all five of us, and if you'd be so kind, get the hell out of our way and let us leave," Scythe replied.

"Afraid we can't do that," the soldier stated, "Your ship's illegally docked here, we're detaining it."

"Over my dead body, fur ball," Scythe said.

"Now listen here, mutt," the soldier growled, but was cut off before he could continue. No sooner had he said the word 'mutt,' Scythe punched him right in the lower jaw, knocking him back and onto the wet ground. Fear and another black wolf, one with deep blue hair, grabbed both of his arms while the other four soldiers aimed their assault rifles at Scythe. Scythe was furious, as even while two others were restraining him, they were having a great deal of difficulty doing so.

The soldier touched his lip with his right finger, looking at it, seeing he was bleeding. In anger, he got up and struck Scythe. The final member, a black-furred wolf with deep red hair and hands, had found cover and assembled his Energy Assault Rifle. Right after Scythe was struck, he jumped out and opened fire on the four soldiers who had their rifles aimed at Scythe, Shadow, Fear, and the blue-haired wolf. The red-handed wolf quickly dropped the others.

Upon seeing this, the blue-haired wolf and Fear let go of him. Right then and there, the team knew that it wouldn't end well for the soldier. The feline was caught off-guard as Scythe jumped forward and tackled him to the ground, the rain now soaking them both. The soldier was helpless as Scythe mercilessly continued to punch at his head, a few drops of blood flying left and right every few punches.

Scythe soon stopped punching and went to slapping, not because his knuckles were sore, but because he knew his claws were likely to cut the feline, and that's what he was after.

"Am I a mutt, huh, am I a mutt," Scythe screamed as he continued beating the feline, his claws leaving small cuts on the soldier's face, "Am I a fucking mutt?! Huh?! Am I?!"

"S-Stop," the feline managed to say.

Scythe slapped the poor soldier a few more times before leaning back, his legs on either side of the soldier in order to keep him on the ground. He stared at the cat's face and the ground around his head. Wet fur had fallen off and covered a small bit of the dark grey ground, his fur now a whitish red, open wounds and some bruises were visible, his lips were stained with his own blood, his face showed a look of regret. "Am I a mutt…?"

The soldier didn't reply, and instead looked away; he was tired from the beating. Scythe got up off the soldier and began to walk away, stopping and turning around to look at the soldier. The feline was attempting to get to his feet while removing a pistol from his jacket the black object visible in his hand as he attempted to stand. Scythe quickly moved closer and kicked the soldier in the head, knocking him on his back and causing him to drop the gun.

"You wanna shoot me," Scythe yelled as he leaned down to get a closer look at the soldier's face. Scythe turned around and removed the weapon off his back. He walked around to the feet of the soldier and drove his scythe into the feline's chest causing the feline to scream out in pain. He then pulled back on it, leaving a huge open wound. He then quickly removed the scythe from the soldier, shook off what blood he could, and placed it on his back again.

The black-furred wolf remained silent as he began to walk away from the scene, going up the ramp and into the dimly-lit ship. The others did the same, choosing to remain silent and entering their ship. Nothing needed to be said, and so things remained silent. Once on the ship, the group split up. From the hanger, which held several grey crates, a couple motorcycles, and a couple fighters, the group went their separate ways.

The Scythe wolf did the same as the blue-hair wolf and the red-handed wolf: went to his room to relax. Shadow went to the bridge to prep the ship for takeoff. Fear went to the training room, deciding to test his assault rifle, his throwing knives, and his machete. Once inside, Fear put in what he wanted on a computer panel nearby and the 'shooting gallery' was set up. He whipped out the energy weapon stock and aimed it, getting ready to assemble the rifle.

The 'gallery' itself was nothing more than a hologram as were the targets, which acted as living beings. The gallery was actually a holographic location specified by the individual using it, the user could choose terrain, weather, available cover, enemy intelligence level, available weapons, and other such things

He pulled out an assault rifle magazine, specifically made for energy weapons, and placed it on the bottom of the gun. He then pulled out a small extension to the weapon stock's barrel and quickly attached it. Having finished putting the weapon together, he placed his left hand on the bottom of the gun while he kept his right hand on the handle. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, and a barrage of blue bolts came screaming out of the gun's barrel. The holographic individuals simply stood there as the bolts ripped right through them.

Fear had only wanted to test the gun's performance, nothing more. He looked at the holographic individuals and found the gun had done its job very well. Fear then specified that he wanted the targets to be sandbags suspended from the ceiling. Upon finishing specifying what he wanted, the sandbags were generated, and everything else removed. To add to what he wanted, he decided to have it play some music.

"Disturbed," he said, quickly thinking of a song he wanted to hear, "Haunted." No sooner had he finished entering the date did the song start. The sound of lightning echoed in the distant, church bells, and then rain. Soon the bass, guitar, and drums entered while the storm and bells continued on in the background, an eerie sound accompanying the band. Fear stood there, his head down, and his eyes closed. Soon, the band stepped it up, the song getting louder, guitar and drums the only thing he could hear now.

The very second this started; he looked up and opened his eyes, his hand grabbing the handle of his machete. He quickly slashed at the nearest sandbag, cutting it open and letting the sand run out. He watched it for a moment and turned to finish off another as the vocalist started.

"You're broken, so am I. I'm better off alone, no one to turn to, and nothing to call my own," the vocalist sang loudly, "Outspoken, so am I. Explosive words that your world wouldn't understand, turn away again."

As the band continued to play, Fear continued to slice at the sandbags, one of which he continued to hack at even after he had emptied it of sand. The next sandbag he attacked, he drove it into the bag as deep as he could and then twisted it.

"My blood is cold as ice, or so I have been told, show no emotion, and it can destroy your soul," the vocalist continued.

While Fear was training, Shadow decided instead of leaving the planet, he'd move the carrier to a location that wasn't going to get them in trouble. After inputting the coordinates, he contacted the individual who put out the contract on the drug dealer. A holographic image of a male pit bull appeared on the screen.

"Can I help you," He asked.

"I've got business with your boss," Shadow said, "Just put her on."

"Fine," the pit bull said, obviously displeased at how the wolf asked for his boss. A few short moments later, the image changed to a white female cat.

"Yes," she asked kindly, "What can I do for you?"

"We've dealt with that drug dealer you wanted gone," Shadow said, "Now, about the pay…"

"Yes, yes, five hundred credits, as was the contract," she said.

"Double that, kitty," Shadow said, "He wasn't a drug dealer, he was an undercover police officer, so me and my team are in deep shit, all thanks to your contract."

"You should've thought about that before you took the contract," she said with an unimpressed look on her face, though that look changed when she saw how mad she had made the mercenary, "But I can see where you're coming from, and I am not unreasonable…very well, one-thousand credits it is."

"Very good," Shadow spoke, "And next time you want somebody dead, you better make damn sure they're not undercover cops, lest you run into mercs less forgiving than me."

"Is that a threat," she asked.

"No, that's a bit of advice, because if this had happened to a group less forgiving," Shadow said, thinking a moment before speaking, deciding to hit a branch of her business, "You'd be thoroughly fucked, and you wouldn't enjoy it." Upon finishing, Shadow flashed her an evil grin.

"Better be careful who you talk that way to, you could end up getting yourself killed," the feline said.

"Bitch, if was worried about dying, I'd probably be working as a waiter," Shadow said, ending the communication. He tilted his head to the left and right, getting a few cracks from his neck, "Stupid cat."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Indestructible

It had been thirty minutes since Shadow finished talking to that businesswoman and decided to check to see what other jobs were out there. He continued searching through the jobs that were provided by business owners for ten minutes before giving up.

"Hmm…let's see what the Cornerian military has, just because I'm curious."

Shadow quickly switched to Cornerian military offered missions.

He looked at the first, finding the military was offering a reward for the capture or assassination of a gang leader, nothing interesting. He looked at the next, just a mission requiring a few space pirates to be dealt with. "Boring." The third he looked at caught him off guard, but didn't really surprise him. Near the top of the holoscreen showed the pictures of all members on the team, including his own. Below the pictures were their names and a bit of information.

Below Shadow's was just that, the word 'Shadow'.

"Shadow' is the leader of the group and should be approached with caution, one million credits, dead or alive."

Next was Scythe's. "Scythe' is a known murderer, two million credits, dead or alive."

Next in line was Fear's picture. "Fear' is also a known murderer, one million credits, dead or alive."

The fourth picture was of the blue-haired wolf who went by the name of 'Shock'.

"Shock' is a known thief, five hundred-thousand, dead or alive."

The final one was of the red-haired and handed wolf who went by the name of 'Ice'.

"Ice' is a known murdered, three million, dead or alive." After that, below all had the words, "Entire team, seven and a half million credits, dead or alive."

Shadow just laughed upon reading the information, deciding to see what else the military had on them.

He looked through the available information, and found they knew what their carrier looked like, which only brought a grin to Shadow's face. "Good, that means we'll have free target practice." There was also a list of groups that had taken the job, so Shadow thought it best to see who was after them. He lifted his right hand and hit the panel on the holographic screen. Within a few short moments, two names popped up.

'Star Wolf' and 'Star Fox' were what was displayed on the screen. Upon looking at the name 'Star Wolf,' Shadow grinned evilly and got on the carrier's speaker.

"Hey, guys," he spoke, his voice going through the entire ship, "Come to the bridge; you're gonna wanna see this."

Shadow went back to reading what information they had for five minutes before the other four members showed up.

"What do you want, Shadow," Ice asked.

"Check this out," Shadow said, "The military's found out what our carrier looks like, and they've got Star Fox and Star Wolf after us, which means when Star Wolf shows up, we get to start killing."

"So I get to dice up Pigma," Scythe asked, "Great, let's save the body so we can have ham and bacon for breakfast the day after."

As soon as Scythe had finished, the whole group laughed. The others returned to where they came from and Shadow continued looking through the available jobs. Two hours later, Shadow decided to take the carrier back into space. It lifted off the ground and soared through the storm clouds of Corneria and back into space. Shadow had programmed it to move out far enough away from the planet that nobody would be able to pick them up if they were simply doing a routine scan.

After taking care of that, Shadow made his way to his room, which was near the hanger, grabbed a small table, a pack of playing cards, and set it up down at the hanger, went back for four small chairs and proceeded to play blackjack with himself just to pass the time. After about ten plays, Shock walked in and quickly spotted him playing. He walked over and took a seat across from Shadow. "Blackjack?"

"Yeah, just passing the time," Shadow answered, flipping over two cards and finding a king and an ace.

"Nice," Shock said, pausing for a minute, "You play poker?"

"Yeah, whenever I can, but when I'm alone, I play blackjack," he said, still looking at the cards, "You looking for an opponent?"

"Well, if that's an offer, sure," the blue-haired wolf answered.

Shadow put the cards together and began shuffling them. "Not too bad of a day, huh?"

"Could've gone better, but I can't really complain," Shock replied, watching Shadow shuffle the cards and begin passing them out.

"I'd have been happier if that dealer wasn't an undercover cop," Shadow stated as he finished passing the five cards and picking his up.

"It came from Corneria, what do you expect," asked Shock, picking up his own cards.

Shadow lightly smiled as he saw he had four queens and an ace. Shock, upon seeing his bad hand, an ace, a five, a king, a three, and a seven, frowned, but shrugged. Poker was a lot like life to him, you don't always get what you like, but you do the best you can with the hand you're dealt. Shadow tossed out his ace and drew a king. Shock tossed out his three, his seven, and his five, drawing a king, a nine, and another ace.

Shock put his hand down, feeling he did relatively good…that is, until Shadow put down his hand and grinned, effectively killing Shock's good feeling. Shock just smiled and gave Shadow a thumbs up.

"You're good," he said, "How long you been playing poker?"

"Ever since I was six, parents were never around, so I played cards," he said, "The cards were my best friends since I hated my parents, but, that's a long time ago, no need to bore you with my childhood life."

Shadow grabbed the cards and began to shuffle them, but stopped as soon as the ship began to shake. Something was hitting them, and hitting them hard.

"What the fuck," Shadow yelled, jumping up and running down the hallway that led to the bridge. Just as he reached the bridge, the carrier shook hard, causing him to trip. He quickly got back to his feet and commanded the carrier's computer to show him what was attacking them. It showed four fighters, each black, red, and white in color.

"Freeze that image," he yelled. The computer did just that.

"Zoom in on the fighter in the middle," he said. The computer brought a square around the fighter in the center and zoomed in. No doubt about it now, that fighter was one that belonged to Star Wolf. Shadow quickly got on the intercom. "Get your asses to the hanger, on the double, Star Wolf just showed up, I'm opening the hanger doors, they'll be easier to deal with, so you better find cover fast!"

And Shadow did just that, the hanger doors opened, the only thing keeping the group inside being a blue shield that would allow only solid objects in and out.

"Well, would you look at that," Wolf said to his team, "I think they wanna surrender."

"Then let's go in there and get this over with," Panther said, "The sooner the better.

Without hesitation, Star Wolf flew inside the hanger and landed, the four fighters easily fitting inside the hanger.

Upon getting out, they found that all five hallways had steel crates in front of them, providing the perfect cover when fighting enemies with blasters. Star Wolf began to looking around, finding there were more steel crates that could provide them cover, should they need it. Behind the crate closest to the fighter Pigma was piloting was Fear, who decided to bring a rocket launcher from the group's armory. "That fatass is staying here."

He got out from behind cover long enough to fire it, the rocket impacting the canopy of the fighter, effectively destroying it and forcing the pilot to stay at the current location until it was fixed. Fear got back behind cover just before the Star Wolf team began firing at him. "My beautiful ship," Pigma screamed upon seeing what happened to his fighter, "What have you done to my beautiful ship?!"

"I blew it the fuck up, fatass," Fear shouted from behind cover, "I wanted to make damn sure you didn't get off this carrier!"

"I'll kill you, you have my word, I'll kill you," Pigma screamed. While the team was looking away from Shadow's position, he got out form behind cover, assembled his energy sniper rifle, and took aim. He aimed at the back of Wolf's head and fired, though the sights were off and simply hit his right shoulder.

"Damnit," Shadow screamed in his head as he got behind cover. Wolf yipped in pain as the energy bolt ripped through his shoulder, blood covering his jacket where the bolt hit.

"You bastard," Wolf howled, making a mad dash for the crates he noticed earlier.

"So what if my parents were never married," Shadow yelled back, "Doesn't change the fact you four are going to get your asses kicked!"

"What the hell are you guys, ghosts," Wolf yelled.

"We're the nightmares you haven't had yet," Scythe yelled, standing up from behind cover and firing at the first target he saw: Panther. Panther was hit in the left shoulder and dropped to the ground, clutching at it.

"Shit, he got me," Panther yelled.

"To bad I didn't aim a little higher and to the right," Scythe yelled as he got back behind cover, referring to the fact he hit him from behind.

"Damn, these guys are good," Wolf shouted to his teammates.

"If we're just 'good,' then you four must suck," Ice responded, getting out from behind cover with his energy assault rifle and firing at Leon, causing him to scramble for whatever cover he could find.

Pigma had pulled out a pistol and began firing at Ice, who had created the perfect distraction for Shadow. Shadow had fixed the scope on his sniper rifle and increased the power output, causing it to use all the energy in one clip when firing a single round. He aimed for Pigma's hands, wishing to keep him alive, and pulled the trigger. A large bolt burnt through the handle of Pigma's gun and his hands, causing him to drop the gun, scream in pain, and fall to his knees.

"Fuck, we've got to get out of here," Wolf yelled, quickly getting up and running for his ship. It took him little time to get in his fighter, activate it, and start flying out of the hanger. He was soon followed by Leon and Panther. Pigma was left in the hanger screaming in pain from the holes in his hands.

"What have you done," he screamed.

"He put two holes in your fucking hands," Scythe said as he began making his way over to Pigma. He disassembled his weapon and removed the Scythe off his back.

"Want me to stop your hands from hurting, fatass," Scythe asked, leaning down and getting right up in Pigma's face.

"Yes, stop the pain," Pigma pleaded, holding his hands out.

"Fine," Scythe screamed, stepping to the left and slicing off Pigma's hands.

Pigma screamed in pain and pulled his arms back, blood spraying onto the hanger floor.

"What did you do," Pigma asked Scythe.

"I fixed if so your hands don't hurt anymore, no hands, no pain in your hands."

Pigma said nothing and continued to scream in pain.

The other four had gathered around and grinned as Pigma knelt there, screaming in pain.

"Only thing to make this moment better would be to shut him the hell up," Ice said.

"Shut the fuck up, pig," Scythe screamed, slicing Pigma's head off. His head was chopped clean off, landing upright and a pool of blood quickly forming around it. His body fell forward, blood spraying onto the floor.

"Looks like we're having bacon and ham tomorrow," Shock said.

"Sounds good to me," Scythe said, licking his lips before kicking Pigma's body. The rest of the day, the group spent cleaning up the hanger and cleaning the dead body. Whatever was edible, they placed in baggies and froze, whatever wasn't they sent into space.

The next morning, everyone was greeting by the smell of Bacon and Ham when they entered the communications room. Shock had set up a table in there, since it was the largest room in the ship, aside from the hanger. As the group began to eat, they received a communications request from an unknown location. Shadow answered it and Wolf's face appeared on the screen.

"I just wanted to tell you—"wolf began, only to stop mid-sentence when he saw what the group was eating, "You cannibals!"

"No, it's called 'Breakfast,' if it was cannibalistic we would be eating you, in which case you would be screaming right about now," Scythe stated without looking up from his plate.

"I just wanted to tell you that we'll get you soon enough," Wolf said, quickly ending the communication, obviously disgusted at finding the group eating his former teammate.

"I vote we kill pigs more often," Scythe said, taking a bite of ham, then bacon.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Torn

Over the course of time, Shadow had decided to bring the Carrier into Corneria. The ship soared through the skies and found a dock in the spaceport that was free and lowered itself into it. The group got dressed in their usual attire and left the ship. On Corneria, it was currently noon, and the skies were extremely clear. The group would've preferred different weather, but it wasn't that bad.

The group quickly lost themselves in the crowded streets of Corneria and made their way to the weapons shop, which happened to be a mile and a half from the spaceport. The group entered the shop and split up, each finding their preferred weapon types in the shop and examining what they had to offer. Things had been rather boring that day up until this point for the team. Five minutes after they entered the shop, the Star Fox team walked in.

"Hey, Fox, how's it going," the cashier asked. Shadow was in the center of the shop, and so was quickly spotted, though was paid no attention. On hearing the name 'Fox', his ears shot straight up and he got ready for a fight, should it come to that.

"Nothing new, Jake, just came to see if you had anything new," Fox replied.

"If you need me, I'll be looking at the pistols," Krystal said, quickly departing from the group.

Krystal started searching through the store before finding the pistols. She quickly made her way over to them, unknowingly placing herself right beside Fear. Fear quickly became aware of her presence. The Star Fox Team's presence didn't scare him, or make him nervous; he just didn't prefer being around them when they had his mission.

"Got a preference for pistols," Krystal asked Fear, causing him to quickly turn and face her.

He couldn't see her too well with his glasses on, so he removed them. His Red eyes made her want to take a step back; she could tell there was something about him that made her a little uncomfortable.

"Desert Eagle's always been reliable to me," He said. Just then, it hit Krystal, this was Fear. She quickly pulled out her blaster and yelled 'hands up.'

"You've got to be kidding me," he said. He quickly pulled out a small gun and fired it, hitting her in the stomach before she could react.

Luckily for her, it was a stun gun, which only knocked her down for a couple seconds, but that was long enough for him to get the hell out of that store.

"Let's get the fuck out of here, the Star Fox Team knows we're here," Fear yelled. Shadow pulled out his M1911 and shot the glass door, the glass shattering. The entire group ran out of the store. The Star Fox team was only a little ways behind them.

"Get to the carrier and take off without me, I'll hold them off," Scythe yelled.

"But, Scythe—"Fear began, but was cut off mid-sentence.

"Now," Scythe shouted, pulling out his assault rifle and taking cover behind a nearby building. The others didn't argue and took off. While the others ran off, Scythe leaned out from behind cover and waited for the Star Fox team, jumping out from behind the building and laying down suppressive fire when the four of them came into range.

The four took whatever cover they hid in an attempt to avoid getting killed. After he had fired a third of his clip, Scythe began going after his team, hoping he could catch them before they left the planet. While he held back the Star Fox Team, Fear, Shadow, Shock, and Ice made their way to the carrier. Once they got there, they quickly prepped the carrier for takeoff. They didn't have time to wait for Scythe, and so as soon as they could, they lifted off and left the planet.

Scythe had just arrived at the Starport and began to run through the entire place. He took longer than he would have liked finding the dock they were at, but when he did, he found he had arrived only just in time to watch the carrier take off. He ran out into the center of the dock and stood there, staring up into the sky, watching the carrier fly off. It didn't take the Star Fox Team long to reach the dock. Falco, Slippy, Krystal, and Fox all had their blasters aimed at Scythe.

"Give up now or we will shoot," Fox said.

"Not much else I can do," Scythe said as he turned around, "I've got no cover, I'm out of ammo, and the only thing I have left is my scythe, and with that, I'll last a whole of two seconds, so I don't have much of a choice here."

The group said nothing and simply watched as Scythe put his hands behind his back. Once his hands were behind his back, Krystal approached him and cuffed him with no problems.

They led him through the spaceport and onto their ship. As he walked through the halls of the ship, he examined it. He got a good look at the outside, and in his opinion, the inside wasn't much better. "For a very well-known mercenary team, you sure have a shitty carrier," Scythe said.

"Shut up, mutt," Falco said.

"Real tough when your enemies are bound, aren't ya, birdbrain," replied Scythe.

Scythe got nothing less than a hit to the back of the head, which he answered with a kick to the crotch, bringing Falco down to his knees. The other three quickly aimed their guns at Scythe.

"Hey, I'm not the one who started hitting," he said.

"Well, we'll end it," Fox said.

"Whatever."

The team led Scythe to a spare room they used as an interrogation room, which was nothing more than a room with two shackles hanging from the ceiling. The shackles were long enough to allow a little movement, but not long enough to allow the one in them to bring their hands lower than their neck. Once inside, Krystal removed Scythe's cuffs and stepped back. The four kept their blasters aimed at Scythe.

"Alright, take off your boots and your trench," Fox said.

"At least I get to keep my pants," Scythe said, removing his Scythe and leaning it against the wall. He then dropped his trench to the floor, a heavy 'thud' sounding afterwards. He then slipped off his boots and set them beside his trench. Falco grabbed the scythe and began walking out with it.

"Hey, birdbrain," the red-haired wolf said, "You better take care of that Scythe, or you'll regret it."

"Yeah right," Falco said just before he left.

Fox picked up Scythe's trench, and Slippy grabbed Scythe's boots.

"Alright, be a good boy and get under those shackles," Krystal said. Scythe just shrugged and did as she said, preferring not to get shot today. He lifted his hands high enough she could put the shackles on him, and she did just that, as well as taking his sunglasses.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you like putting cuffs and shit like that on me," Scythe said.

Krystal just got a slightly confused look on her face. She knew what he meant, but she just never thought about it, to be honest. In truth, did she enjoy it or not? Of course, Scythe only said it to get under her skin, not because he enjoyed it.

"So what is this, the torture room," Scythe asked, looking around.

"Actually, we use it for interrogation," Krystal replied, looking the wolf over.

"Either way, I don't give a damn, I'll still end up sleeping in shackles," Scythe said.

"If you're good, you might get a bed," Krystal replied.

"Yeah, bullshit, within a few days, you'll all turn me into the Cornerian Military, and then I'll be put to death, probably mutilation, if I'm lucky," Scythe stated.

"They won't do that to you, you'll probably just spend a few years in prison, at least," Krystal replied.

"Whatever, you can hide from the truth all you want, but that won't change my fate," Scythe said.

"What do you mean," Krystal asked.

"The government is corrupt, you break the law, you're screwed," Scythe replied.

"That can't be true," Krystal spoke, "It just can't."

"It is," Scythe said.

Krystal said nothing and just left the room.

"Guess she couldn't handle the truth," Scythe thought to himself, "Who gives a shit…anyway, might as well get some sleep, nothing else to do in here." And with that, Scythe leaned his head forward and shut his eyes. It wasn't long before he was asleep and the darkness of it took him before his dreams embraced him.

A little bit later in reality, which was only a moment in time to him; he was woken up by some female's voice. He looked up to see Krystal there wearing a white sleeveless shirt, blue jeans, and no footwear. She had obviously changed from her blue armor to casual wear. He paid her clothing little attention and just looked at her face.

"What," he growled, though he didn't sound angry, just tired.

"I have some questions for you," Krystal replied.

"Don't you all," Scythe asked, yawning and shaking his head in an attempt to wake himself up, which actually worked quite well.

"Where are the other members of your team hiding," Krystal asked.

"Like I'd tell you," Scythe replied, "Try harder."

"Just tell me," Krystal sighed, "I'm not in the mood for putting up with you."

"Fine," Scythe said, "But come closer, or I won't tell you."

Krystal leaned in just a little bit closer.

"Come on, a lot closer," Scythe said. Krystal leaned in so close her nose was just about an inch away from his.

Scythe grinned and quickly leaned forward, giving her a kiss on the lips. Krystal's eyes shot wide open, but that's all she did. She was too shocked to do anything, too shocked to hit him, push him away, punch him, anything. She just stood there. He pulled back and whispered, "That's all you're getting out of me." Krystal just stared into his eyes, and he back at hers, only he didn't looked shocked.

It took Krystal a few moments to take in what happened and when she did, she left. Once she was out of the room, Scythe just burst out laughing; the look on her face was priceless to him. Shortly after he calmed down, Fox burst into the room and marched right over to him, sticking his finger in his face.

"Don't you dare kiss Krystal again," Fox yelled.

"Why not," Asked Scythe, "Afraid she might like it, afraid she might like getting kissed by a real male?"

"She'd never fall for you," Fox shouted.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Scythe replied quietly, "Wouldn't be surprised if she got fed up with you and dumped you for a real male, someone who can give her what she needs."

"I can give her whatever she wants," Fox growled.

"That means nothing, you may be able to give her anything she -wants-," Scythe said, leaning a bit closer, "But you can't give her what she -needs-."

"You just stay away from her," Fox barked.

"Afraid of a little competition," Scythe said, laughing, "This coming from the 'Hero of Lylat', more like the 'Coward of Lylat."

"What did you call me," Fox yelled, getting right up in Scythe's face.

"What are you, deaf," Scythe asked, "I don't think I need to say it again."

"You want a fight on your hands," Fox asked.

"I wouldn't have a problem fighting you if didn't know your teammates would come running in and shoot me," Scythe replied, "I'm not stupid."

"You're a coward," Fox said, beginning to say more, though he was cut off when Scythe jumped back as far as he could and kicked him in the jaw, knocking him on his back.

"You're pathetic," Scythe said, looking down at Fox, "I'm chained to the ceiling while you're free and I still kicked your ass."

Fox touched his lips with his left index and middle finger, looking at them and finding he was bleeding from the kick. The injured Star Fox leader got up and made his way out of the room, heading straight for the medical center to get the needed equipment to patch up his mouth.

Scythe looked up at the ceiling to see where the chains were connected, and to see the chains themselves. He pulled as hard as he could for awhile, trying to break free, but having no success. He sighed and leaned his head forward, waiting for another member to walk in and try to extract information from him. He was only a couple minutes before Krystal reappeared in the room, slowly making her way over to Scythe.

Scythe paid her little attention, and still kept his focus on the floor.

"Why did you kiss me," Krystal asked. Scythe looked up and her, smirked, and looked away. Krystal sighed and began looking him over. It didn't take her long to notice the steel collar around his neck. She hadn't noticed it before, and so she stepped closer to get a better look. Scythe quickly turned to face her and growled.

"Keep away from me," he growled.

"I wasn't going to do anything to you," Krystal said.

"Bullshit," Scythe muttered.

"I just wanted to see your collar," Krystal told him, "What's that engraved on it?"

"Slave," Scythe replied.

"Were you a slave," Krystal asked, though it didn't dawn on her she left herself wide open until after she said it.

"No, I was a butler, 'Slave' was my nickname," Scythe replied sarcastically, "Of course I was a slave."

"What happened," Krystal questioned, a bit of irritation in her tone.

"Long story short, I was captured and sold into slavery," Scythe answered, "Then I was sold to a real bitch, who I intend to kill one day."

"Who," Krystal asked.

"I don't think that's any of your business," Scythe quickly replied, "I don't question your past, do I?"

"What's eating you," Krystal asked, obviously frustrated with how Scythe was acting.

"Excuse me, I don't like it when others chain me up and start asking questions," Scythe answered.

"Speaking of questions, you haven't answered my question as to why you kissed me," Krystal spoke.

"To get under your skin," Scythe replied, "To be honest, you're no different than any other whore I've ever met, and I've met a ton of whores, believe me, they're all over Corneria." Krystal was shocked by his answer, not by his opinion, but at the fact he called her a whore. She quickly moved closer and slapped his across the face, the claws on her right hand cutting deep into his flesh, leaving four open wounds on his left cheek.

"You know, if you want me to change my opinion on you, you're starting off the wrong way," Scythe said, tilting his head forward and licking what areas of the wounds he could, his blood covering the tip of his tongue.

"You son of a bitch," Krystal yelled, quickly noticing him licking his wounds, "You're disgusting.

"My mother probably was a bitch," he replied, "You got a problem with me licking my wounds?"

"Yes, it's disgusting," Krystal said.

"No, disgusting is when you're screwing your own family member," Scythe told her. Krystal slapped him three more times, giving him four cuts on his right cheek and deepening the wounds on his left.

"My opinion about you being a whore isn't going to change anytime soon if you keep hitting me," Scythe said, looking her in the eyes.

After hitting him several times, Krystal ran out of the room and to her room. Once inside, she ran to the bathroom and began brushing her teeth, finding the fact he kissed her disgusting and wishing she could just forget it ever happened. But she couldn't, the memory remained in her mind, replaying over and over again. And not just the kiss, he remained in her mind, she just couldn't forget him, nor could she forget what he said about the Cornerian government.

Scythe, back in the interrogation room, leaned his head forward, watching the floor, and for a little bit, watched the blood from his cheeks drip onto the floor. That was his only entertainment, until the wounds stopped bleeding. He shrugged as the bleeding stopped and closed his eyes, waiting for the darkness of sleep to take him once again. It wasn't long before sleep opened its arms to him and welcomed him into what most would consider…a nightmare.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Overburdened

Scythe awoke in a completely different area, unchained. He first looked at his wrists, the shackles were gone, there was no evidence to support the fact he had once wore shackles on his wrists. He then looked around the area, it was quite dark. There was next to no light, though he could make out shapes and figures. He walked for what seemed like miles until he finally grew tires. He looked around once again, finding no buildings within sight.

The only thing he was aside from the ground, were many trees, all of which were dead. He quickly realized he was not in a city or town, but rather far from it. For all he knew, he had entered an alternate dimension, though that was highly unlikely. He leaned his back against the nearest tree and slid down to the ground. He lifted his ears as high as he could, listening for any sound whatsoever. Nothing. He could head nothing, save his own breathing.

"I'm alone," he thought to himself. The temperature right now was just about perfect, not too hot and not too cold. He shrugged, figuring he might as well make the best of what he had. It seemed like an eternity before any decent light appeared. The moon suddenly came into view, and suddenly a strange breeze blew. The wind briefly whistled and the temperature dropped to what felt like a hundred below. Scythe slowly exhaled, smoke emerging from his mouth.

"Scythe….Scythe…Scythe…Scythe," a deep, cold voice spoke, causing the wolf to stand to his feet. He looked around, seeing nothing. Nobody was there, but then, who was calling his name? "Scythe…Scythe…Scythe…Scythe…" The voice grew louder, and closer. His heart began to pound in his chest, the voices grew louder, but still nobody was there. "Scythe…Scythe…Scythe…Scythe…" The voice was almost too loud to bear.

Not only was it freezing cold, but the voice was beginning to give Scythe a head-splitting headache. "SCYTHE!!" With that final voice, all light was sucked away as the shadows all around him shot up into the sky and came down on him like a bomb. The darkness swallowed him whole. Scythe had shut his eyes when he saw the darkness approaching, and only opened them when he had felt the air get much, much colder, something he didn't think could happen. He looked around once again, but could see nothing but darkness.

All of a sudden, figures, darker than the blackest black, rose from the ground and surrounded him. Scythe instinctively reached his right arm out to his side. All of a sudden, his Scythe appeared in his hand, though it was oddly different. It too was as dark as these figures, but that didn't matter to the wolf, he had a weapon. And if he had a weapon, he could kill these…these things, whatever they were.

Originally, the figures the nothing but a mass of darkness, but soon began to take form. All of them suddenly changed into figures wearing hooded cloaks, their heads hidden underneath the hoods. Their heads tilted forward, preventing their faces from being seen, their upper bodies arched forward, and their arms hung from their shoulders. They all began to slowly walk towards Scythe, their looks moving as if they each weighed twelve tons.

Scythe began to run for the figure straight ahead of him, running past it and slicing it in half along the waist. The creature didn't make a sound, even as the upper portion of the body dropped to the ground. But the legs simply turned around and started walking towards Scythe once more. The two halves continuously sprayed a black liquid-like substance. Each drop that touched the ground formed a new, fully grown figure. Soon, the two halves formed opposite halves.

It seemed as if two hundred figures had been created. Scythe decided his only choice left…was to fight. He continued to run past the figures, slicing different portions of their bodies off. Heads, legs, arms, anything he could find. But the result was always the same; more figures, and the severed area always regrew a body, or an arm, or a leg, whatever. Soon there seemed to be millions upon millions of those black creatures. Scythe was beginning to get tired.

All of a sudden, the figures disappeared. Scythe relaxed and dropped his weapon, the weapon disappearing once it hit the ground. All of a sudden, two huge, glowing red eyes appeared. He saw nothing but red in the eyes. No white, no black, nothing but red. He soon saw its face. It looked to be some sort of werewolf, only its head was as big as his body. A hand shot towards Scythe and grabbed him, pulling him closer.

It had only gotten him from the waist down, and so he used his hands to try and free himself. His struggling only angered the wolf, and it grabbed him with bother hands and ripped him in half. Scythe screamed in pain as it ate his lower half and drove one of its fingers into his chest. The pain was too much to bear, and his only hope was that he might die soon. What felt like an eternity passed and Scythe was still alive.

He looked down at himself, finding that he had nothing more than his Trench on now. The ground was covered with his blood. The creature moved its head closer, close enough for Scythe to reach. Scythe reached out with his left hand and slashed at the wolf right eyes, ripping it wide open, causing blood to rain down on him like a waterfall. The werewolf pulled away from Scythe, its finger sliding out of his chest.

It howled in pained and put pressed on its right eye. Scythe reached his right hand inside his trench, pulling out three throwing knives. He hurled them at the wolf just in time to catch it was it looked back down at Scythe. The knives impacted its right eyes and left its eye useless. It howled once again as blood fell on Scythe once again like rain. Scythe had lost most all of his energy. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and closed his eyes. His life…was over.

The wolf awoke in the interrogation room of the Great Fox. He looked up to see shackles on his wrists. He looked down to find his lower half was intact and his chest didn't have a huge hole in it. Scythe let a sigh escape his lips. Knowing it was nothing more than a nightmare made him feel better, though in a way, he enjoyed it. The fighting was what interested him the most. He enjoyed fighting, even when he knew he couldn't win, if he was going to die, he wasn't going to go quietly.

He lost himself in thought until Krystal walked in, bringing him back to reality.

"I'm only here to learn where the rest of your group is hiding at," Krystal said.

"Why don't you just kiss my ass," Scythe told her, "Because you're not getting anything from me."

"I thought you'd say that," Krystal said. She left for a moment and then returned with his Energy Weapon.

"What're you going to do, shoot me," Scythe asked.

"As a matter of fact, I am," Krystal replied, "If you don't tell me where your teammates are hiding."

"Shoot me, I fucking dare you," Scythe told her, "I fucking dare you to shoot me, whore!" Krystal aimed at his stomach and attempted to pull the trigger. It wouldn't budge.

"What is wrong with this thing," Krystal asked.

"It'll only fire if I am the one who pulls the trigger," Scythe replied, "Stupid bitch."

Krystal had it with him talking to her like that. She clenched her right hand into a fist and punched him in the stomach. He leaned forward a little bit, but not much. The punch didn't bother him much, it wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't extremely painful.

"Is that the best you got," Scythe asked, "Come on, hit me with your best shot." In truth, that -was- her best shot, though she didn't tell him that, and instead hit him again.

"One of these times, you're going to hit me, and I'm going to hit back," Scythe whispered to her.

"Is that a threat," Krystal asked.

"No, that's a promise," Scythe replied. Krystal walked a little closer to him and punched him once again. She was now within a few inches of him, and he decided to bring his knee up.

His knee connected with her stomach, knocked her back, and down onto her knees. Krystal held her stomach tightly, Scythe kneeing her in the gut hurt like hell. "I should've wore my armor today," Krystal thought to herself, leaning her forward enough her forehead touched the floor.

"What'd I tell you about hitting me," Scythe asked.

"You son of a bitch," Krystal managed to say.

"Next time, don't be a stupid bitch," Scythe told her. Krystal took a few moments to catch her breath and pick herself up. Once she was back on her feet, she quickly left the room. A few minutes later, Fox burst into the room, madder than hell at Scythe.

"You hit her," he screamed, "Now you're dead!"

"Pretty tough to someone who's chained up, aren't ya," Scythe said.

Shortly after Scythe spoke, Falco, Krystal, and Slippy walked in.

"So you brought in the firing squad," Scythe said.

"No matter what happens, you do not help me," Fox said, facing the other three, "Unless he's about to kill me." Scythe just scoffed and looked up at the shackles. Fox turned around and undid the shackles. Scythe brought his hands in front of his and rubbed his wrists.

"You do know you just screwed up, right," Scythe asked.

"You're the one who screwed up," Fox growled, taking off his vest and his shirt, leaving him in his pants and boots.

"You honestly want me to kill you, don't you," Scythe asked. Fox said nothing and sent his left fist right for Scythe's head. Scythe did nothing more than grab Fox' fist with his right hand and begin to tighten his grip. Everyone could physically see Fox's hand was beginning to greatly hurt. Scythe pushed the orange fox's fist away and sent a punch of his own straight for Fox's chest.

Fox couldn't do anything and was hit directly in the chest. The force of the punch caused him to step back. Scythe hit him in the lower jaw with another punch, causing him to look up and back down. Fox was powerless as he saw the red-haired wolf spin around and send a kick right for his head. His foot impacted and knocked McCloud right into the wall, the poor fox sliding down the wall and onto the floor. Scythe backed off as he saw Falco about to pull out his blaster.

Fox stood back up and charged for Scythe, who was standing against the wall. Scythe stepped aside and ducked, avoiding Fox and his punch. Fox slammed right into the wall, leaving him dazed. Scythe kicked McCloud's feet out from under him and stepped on his neck, preventing him breathing. Fox began to lose consciousness when Falco stepped in.

"Alright, pal, let him go," Falco said, aiming his Blaster at Scythe.

"Pity," Scythe said, looking down at Fox, "The system would be better off without him." Scythe removed his foot from McCloud's throat, the beaten fox gasping for air.

"Bet you're no different than your father," Scythe said. Scythe was hit in the back of the head by Falco Blaster.

"Don't you ever talk about his father," Falco yelled.

"I'll be sure to remember that," Scythe said, "Seems to be a touchy subject here."

"So what's the plan now," Scythe asked, "Shoot me now, chain me back up, force me to hold still while your worthless leader beats me up?"

"I'd like the latter," Falco said.

"Funny thing here is the fact you're all talk, buzzard," Scythe said.

"Wanna bet," Falco yelled.

"I'd rather not, because I know you'll fight unfairly," Scythe replied, "Just chain me back up."

Scythe stepped back over to the shackles and raised his arms. Falco lowered his blaster and proceeded to put the shackles back on the wolf. No sooner had he finished, the door opened. It was weird, because the only other individual on the ship was Peppy, and he was asleep on the bridge.

"Drop your fucking guns," Shadow shouted, running into the room, aiming his Assault Rifle at the Star Fox team. Behind him were the other three members; Shock, Ice, and Fear. "You have two seconds to drop your weapons before we start blasting!"

The group had been caught off guard and had no other choice but to drop their weapons, lest they be killed. Krystal, Slippy, and Falco dropped their blasters to the floor.

"Up against the wall, now," Shadow yelled. The three did as they were told, while Fox remained on the floor, trying to catch his breath.

"Damn, Scythe," Fear said, noticing Fox on the floor. He put his weapon down near the door where the Star Fox team couldn't reach it and began to remove the shackles from Scythe's wrists.

"Thanks," Scythe said, "Now, if you'll excuse me…" Scythe proceeded over to Falco and grabbed his shirt.

"Where the hell are my clothes and my equipment," he asked, getting right up in the bird's face.

"Down the hall to your left, third door on the right," Falco said. With that, Scythe left. He followed the bird's directions and ended up in the armory. He grabbed his clothing and equipment and then began to leave.

He left and returned to the interrogation room, fully dressed. "Alright, let's go get that old rabbit," Scythe said, "And let's bring these four with us." Once he finished, the group left the interrogation room and proceeded to the bridge. There, they found Peppy and ROB. ROB was currently deactivated, and Peppy was asleep in his chair. Scythe removed his weapon and placed the upper end of the blade against Peppy's throat.

"No," Krystal screamed.

This woken up Peppy, who let out a yell of terror as he saw Scythe standing in front of him. At first glance, Peppy thought he was the Grim Reaper.

"Sleeping too much is bad for you," Scythe said, "This just proves it." Scythe laughed and placed his weapon on his back once again. He then pulled out a Desert Eagle from inside his coat and aimed it at Peppy.

"Come on, rabbit," Scythe said, "Get over there with the others."

Peppy did as he was told and made his was over to the other members of the Star Fox team. Scythe proceeded over to ROB and shot him once in the chest. The damage was not irreparable, but it did leave him disabled until it was fixed.

"ROB," Fox yelled, receiving a hit in the back of his head. Scythe then proceeded over to the controls and unloaded the rest of his clip into the panels. The Great Fox was left immobile for now, just like Scythe had intended.

"Now that we know this thing won't follow us, we can leave," Scythe said. And with that, the group left. Returning to where their ship was located, they found three Cornerian soldiers.

"Great," Scythe thought. He pulled out his Desert Eagle and made his way over to the soldiers. By the time they noticed he was there, he had already begun unloading his gun on their heads, dropping them all.

The Star Fox team was disgusted by this, but remained silent. The team was led into the ship and placed inside four different rooms. The rooms were no different than the other rooms Scythe, Ice, Shock, Fear, or Shadow stayed in, aside from the fact the doors could only be locked and unlocked from the outside. Overall, the rooms weren't half bad.

"Why are they doing this," Krystal thought, "What do they want with us?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Information

A day had passed since the Star Fox team had been captured. Shadow, Shock, Ice, and Fear had entered the rooms Falco, Slippy, Fox, and Peppy were in, carrying food, while Scythe was busy preparing Krystal's meal. Cooking wasn't something Scythe was fast at, or particularly good at, but his food was fit for consumption, so that's what counted. Once he finished, he placed the soup, silverware, and drink on the tray and proceeded towards Krystal's room.

Once there, he found Krystal sitting on the bed, looking in his direction. She was only looking towards him because she wasn't sure who was entering. After seeing who it was, her eyes were then drawn to the tray.

"This can't be good," she thought, closing her eyes. Scythe made his way over to her and set the tray on the desk beside her bed. He then sat in a nearby chair and watched her, making sure she would eat.

Krystal looked over at the soup. The color of the soup was a shade of red. At first glance, she tried to look away, the first thing coming to her mind not the greatest thing in the Lylat system.

"Calm down, its tomato soup," Scythe said, grinning at her reaction, "Like I'd really give you blood for breakfast…I may be insane from time to time, but I'm not disgusting…well, by some standards."

Krystal reached over and grabbed the tray. She set it on her lap and began dipping her spoon in the bowl, pulling some of the liquid out of the bowl, and drinking some of it. It was a little spicy, but it wasn't hot, in fact, it was somewhat good. Finding it wasn't poisoned or anything, Krystal began to eat more quickly, going at her normal pace of eating.

"Not bad," she thought out loud.

"Glad you like it," Scythe said, "Better than anything you ever gave me."

"But we didn't," Krystal began, but stopped when it dawned on her.

"Give me anything," Scythe finished, "That was the point, and you never gave me a bed to sleep on, either."

"So what do you want with us," Krystal asked.

"Nothing, the only reason you're here is because we didn't want you following us," Scythe said, "We'd rather not get shot at by you and your teammates."

"But why go through all the trouble," Krystal asked.

"What is more troublesome, taking care of hostages or taking care of a bleeding wound," Scythe answered with his own question, "You're not that much trouble, all we have to do is remember to give you food and water…almost like caring for a pet."

Krystal smiled lightly at the comment, just the way Scythe had said it, so seriously, made it funny to her.

"Finish eating, you might need your strength," Scythe said, "Never know what might happen." Krystal simply continued eating while Scythe left the room. Scythe made his way to the bridge and met up with Shadow, who was looking through what information his group had gathered on a matter of interest they ran across while Scythe was gone.

"What's this," Scythe asked, "Some information on a super weapon?"

"No," Shadow said, "It's information on an attack, a message on it, really…but I don't know where they're going to attack…" Shadow shut his eyes and listened to the quiet message once again.

"The attack shall go as planned, their defenses have been weakened enough for an effective assault…the attack shall proceed soon…yes, soon we shall attack-"

"Damn…looks like we'd better get some more information on this," Scythe said.

"And I know just where to find it," Shadow spoke.

"And where might that be," Scythe asked.

"I know someone who owns a restaurant…only it's more of a strip club/restaurant/whore house…that places also deals drugs, making it a much bigger annoyance than usual," Shadow said, "I say we pay him a visit, then blow that place the hell away."

"Sounds like I'd better tell Fear," Scythe said, "Big guy always did love blowing things up."

Scythe turned around and left the bridge, his first stop meant to be Fear's room. He made his way through the ship and finally managed to reach Fear's door. He knocked hard on the door.

"Fear, open the door," Scythe said, a little on the loud side. Only a couple seconds after Scythe had told him to, Fear opened his door.

"What do you need," he asked.

"We're going to pay a visit to someone on Corneria and then we're blowing the place to hell," Scythe answered, "You interested?"

"Dumb question," Fear commented, "You know I like using my explosives."

"Then get your stuff ready, we're movin' out in a few minutes," Scythe said. With that, Fear left his room and made his way to the armory. Scythe decided that the next place he should go to would be Krystal's room. It could be for the best that he took her, and possibly one other member of the Star Fox team along.

Scythe proceeded to Krystal's room. Once at the door, he unlocked it and entered the room. Krystal had just gotten out of the shower and out of the bathroom when Scythe came in. Luckily, she had a towel wrapped round her, preventing Scythe from seeing anything other than her body from the upper section of her chest up, and her knees down.

"Me and Fear are headin' down to Corneria, if you want to learn something useful, you better come along," Scythe said.

"What is it you're intending to teach me," Krystal asked.

"Nothing, I intend to show you, and possibly Fox," Scythe said, pausing for a moment, "Some information, an unknown group is planning an attack somewhere here in the Lylat system, though we don't know where, we intend to find that out."

"Then I shall get dressed," Krystal said.

"You do that, I'll go grab some new clothes for Fox, doubt he'll want to go anywhere in just his pants," Scythe said. And with that, Scythe left. He stopped by his own room before proceeding to Fox's room. He picked up some blue jeans, a black, short sleeve shirt, and some black boots that were all a little bit too small for him. He unlocked the door of Fox's room and entered, throwing the clothing onto his bed.

"What's this for," Fox asked, looking up at Scythe.

"You're coming with me, Fear, and Krystal on a mission," Scythe said, "Unless you don't want to find out what planet in this system is getting attacked."

"What do you mean by that," Fox asked.

"I mean we have information that says an unknown group is going to attack some planet in the Lylat system," Scythe responded, "And we are going to find out what planet that is."

"How am I supposed to know you won't just kill us all on this 'mission'," Fox asked.

"Would we have really taken the time to feed you five if we planned to kill you," Scythe answered with his own question, "Would you be on this ship if we wanted you dead?"

"I suppose not," Fox answered, everything Scythe asked making a point.

"Then get dressed and meet me in the armory, take a left, keep going straight, room at the end of the hall," Scythe said. And with that, he left.

The red-haired wolf went by Krystal's room and told her to meet him in the armory as well, giving her the exact same directions. Once he had done that, he made his way to the armory, looking through the weapons before Krystal and Fox showed up. Krystal was, of course, the first one to show up, other than Scythe, as her room was closer to the armory than Fox's. Not two minutes after she showed up, so did Fox.

"Glad you could show up," Scythe said.

Scythe grabbed an M1911 and a Desert Eagle, handing Krystal the Eagle and Fox the M1911. He then grabbed six smoke grenades and handed three to both Krystal and Fox.

"Those handguns I gave you have been highly modified for better performance, and they've been loaded with explosive rounds, so be careful," Scythe told the two

"Thank you very much," Krystal said, "We will be careful."

"Let's get to the hanger," Scythe said. The other two said nothing and simply followed. Once they reached the hanger, they found Shadow had already landed the carrier and the ramp was already down. Scythe led the group off the ship after putting on his sunglasses and met up with Fear, who was just outside. The weather was perfect on Corneria, not a cloud in the sky, not too hot, and not too cold. The small group made their way through the starport and out into the streets of Corneria.

The place they were headed for wasn't extremely far away, but it wasn't any very short distance, either. The four walked for a while before they found the place they were looking for. The building looked almost like a theater, the letters on the front of the four-story building reading 'Sweet Girls.'

"I'm not even inside and I'm already sick," Scythe said, a look of disgust on his face, "Who knows what kind of diseases are passed around in there…"

The group made their way inside, though Scythe was the last one in, as he very much wished not to enter. Once inside, he and Fear removed their glasses as the lighting was low and wearing sunglasses effectively rendered them blind. The interior looked like that of a five star hotel, a soft carpet, comfortable seats, and a few tables here and there. There were two bars around the entire room, which was pretty big.

In the center of the room was a stage, seven females dancing on it, two wolves, three vixens, one cheetah, and a hyena. Four of them were wearing nothing more than their undergarments, though the other three, the vixens, had nothing on but their panties, leaving the rest of their bodies completely exposed. The music inside was only audible from right outside of the building and inside on the first floor.

Fox was stunned by the place and simply looked around, every now and then his eyes finding their way to the stage. Although, when they found their way to the stage, Krystal forced Fox to look at her, looking at him angrily and growling, bringing his attention back to the mission, and slightly scaring him, and for good reason. Scythe was more disgusted than anything else. He felt sick to his stomach in this place.

Aside from the customers, there were only three others walking around. Three females, a hyena, a vixen, and a lioness. Each wore an outfit that looked a lot like a maid's outfit. Each female, obviously waitresses, continued to carry beverages to the customers, flirting with them for a short time afterwards. Fear had been paying little attention and was a little surprised when a waitress bumped into him.

The hyena was the one who bumped into him, and unknown to Fear, she did it on purpose, though it quickly dawned on his this was no accident. She placed her hands gently on his chest and stared up into his eyes.

"Hey, big boy," She said seductively, "Wanna have a good time?"

"Sure, why not," Fear replied, "Lead the way."

"Right this way," the hyena said, leading him to a door near the back of the room.

"Meet you up there," Fear said, looking back to the other three for a moment before following the hyena. The door led to stairs, which went all the way up to the fourth floor. The hyena led Fear to the third floor, and then to a door with the number '34' on it. She opened the door and led him into a room that looked a lot like the first floor, comfy seats, soft carpet, the only thing different was a bed in the middle of the room.

"Got any handcuffs," Fear asked.

"I like the way you think," the hyena replied, smiling up at him. She went over to a dresser, opened a drawer, and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. She then handed the cuffs to Fear and laid down on the bed. The wolf walked over and handcuffed the female to the bed. The hyena smiled up at him for only a brief moment, the look on her face turning to one of horror when she saw him withdraw a machete from his trench.

Fear began hacking at the furniture around the room, tearing the insides out of the couches, destroying dressers and desks, the only glass table in the room shattering as he hit it with his machete. After a short time, it looked like a war had gone on in the room, the only thing intact was the bed…until he put his machete down and began clawing at the bed, tearing out the guts of the bed and throwing them all over, effectively destroying it.

He then picked up his machete, made his way over to the bed, and leaned over, looking down at the hyena. The female was so scared her eyes were filled with tears, though she didn't make a sound, fearing he'd kill her if she did. He moved his lips close to her ear and began whispering to her.

"I'm having such a wonderful time," he said, "And I'll have an even more wonderful time with you…oh, your screams will be like sweet wine to my ears."

The hyena remained quiet, though tears began to moisten her fur.

"Your screams of terror as I lift my weapon up, your screams of pain as I start cutting," he said, pausing, "I'll make sure to keep you alive for as long as I can, I'll make sure you suffer for a long time before I take your life."

"Please don't kill me, I'll do anything," the hyena cried, tears flowing from her eyes.

Fear searched through the room for a couple minutes before finding the key to the handcuffs. He then removed them from the hyena's wrists and tosses them to the floor.

"Get out of this building, get as far away from it as you can," Fear said. The hyena didn't need to be told twice, nor why for that matter, and simply got up and ran off. Fear grinned as he left the room and made his way back to the stairs, heading up to the fourth floor.

Once there, he met up with Scythe, Krystal, and Fox.

"So what happened," Scythe asked.

"Wasn't sex, I can tell you that much," Fear answered, laughing. Scythe chuckled at the answer; he easily knew what probably happened. The other two, however, had no clue. The group quickly forgot about it and proceeded towards the door at the other end of the room.

"You can't go in there," a well-dressed female feline said.

"The hell we can't," Fear said, kicking open the door. The male fox inside the room quickly looked up, startled by the kicking open of his office door.

"A simple knock would have done," he said. Fear said nothing and quickly made his way over to the male, went around his desk, grabbed his shirt, and leaned over, and pulled the male right up to him, their faces being inches away

"Tell me where the attack is taking place," Fear growled, "Now!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the male said, though it was obvious he was lying.

"Don't you lie to me," Fear yelled, throwing back into his seat, pulling out his machete, and driving it into his left thigh. The male screamed in pain as the weapon sliced through his flesh. The feline at the desk in front got up and quickly ran away when she heard this

"See what happens when you lie," Fear asked.

"Alright," the male managed to say, "What do you want to know?"

"The group you sent the message to," Fear said, "What planet are they attacking?!"

"This one," the fox replied, "They're going to attack Corneria!"

"Why," Fear asked, ripping the machete out of his leg. The fox gasped as the blade was removed.

"I don't know," the male replied, "I wasn't told…that's all I know, they're attacking Corneria."

"Die," Fear yelled as he sliced off the male's head. The fox's head rolled off its body and onto the floor. The body simply slumped down in the chair. Krystal, who had been silent this whole time, looked away.

"Come on, let's go," Fear said, pulling out his Desert Eagle and beginning to head for the stairs. Scythe pulled out his Desert Eagle as well and followed Fear. Krystal and Fox were right behind him. The group quickly reached the stairs and made their way back down to the first floor.

Once there, Fear shot the closest bartender in the head while Scythe shot the bartender farthest away in the head. The entire room was quickly filled with screams and everyone ran out of the building. Fear then handed two explosive packs each to Scythe, Krystal, and Fox.

"Place them in the corners and centers of the walls, evenly between each of the corners, I want to make sure this place is destroyed," Fear said.

Everyone did as they were told, placing the explosives all around the first floor. Once that was done, Fear set the timer on one of the charges and they quickly left. They had only five minutes to get away from the building before it was destroyed. Once the timer was set, the group quickly left the building and started running towards the starport, pushing aside everyone in their way. By the time the five minutes were up, group was halfway to the starport.

The explosives went off and took down the entire building with it. Anyone else left inside ended up dead. The group quickly made their way back to the carrier, managing to get there without any trouble. Once they were back inside the carrier, Krystal went back to her room, as did Fox. Fear made his way to the training room and Scythe went to the bridge. Once there, he walked over to Shadow and stood beside him, silent.

"So what did you find out," Shadow asked.

"They're going to attack Corneria," Scythe replied.

"Then we'd better get ready."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Let The War Begin!

Upon hearing Corneria would be attacked, Shadow thought it best to let General Pepper know about it. Even though he hated the military and all in it, especially General Pepper, it would be in everyone's best interests to let Pepper know about the attack. Shadow got on the comm. and called for Shock, Ice, and Fear, who arrived at the bridge in five minutes. After they showed up, Shadow opened a channel to General Pepper's office at the military HQ on Corneria.

"General pepper here," the old hound said, turning to his vidscreen, being greeted by the five individuals he had been after for so long, "What do you want?"

"We have something you're going to wanna hear," Shadow replied to the holoscreen that appeared in front of the window in the bridge, "We have solid information that a group is going to attack Corneria, we don't know when, but we know soon."

"You think we're going to surrender to you five," General Pepper asked.

"It's not—"Shadow tried to respond, though he was cut off by Pepper.

"We're not that easily defeated," Pepper told him.

"We're—"Shadow tried to say again.

"You're going to fail," Pepper interrupted.

"Shut the fuck up, you wrinkled mutt," Scythe yelled. Pepper was caught off guard, and did, indeed, remain silent.

"We're not the ones attacking, we won't waste our time killing off your worthless soldiers," Shadow said, "If it wasn't for this attack, we wouldn't be talking at all, so since we're talking to you about this you better take us seriously!"

"You're lying," Pepper responded, "Pepper out."

Once Pepper had finished, he ended the communications. Shadow sighed and waved his left hand in the air, letting the others know they were no longer needed. Fear, Shock, and Ice left the room, leaving only Scythe and Shadow.

"If the mutt won't listen," Scythe said, "Then we won't help…they're on their own."

"Of course…if they do not want our help, we will not give it," Shadow replied.

"Let's get off this rock," Scythe told Shadow, "We'll wait and see what happens."

Shadow entered the coordinates into the ship's computer and it lifted up off the ground. It then soared into the sky, soon after leaving the planet's atmosphere. It then flew a ways away from the planet, far enough patrols and scanners wouldn't easily pick them up. While the ship was making its way to the destination, Scythe left the bridge and began making his way to Falco's room. Once there, he unlocked the door and entered.

"What do you want," Falco asked.

"To tell you about the Cornerian government, it would be best if you knew," Scythe replied.

"Knew about what," Falco questioned. Scythe then began to explain about the corruption of the Cornerian government, how they treated everyone, how they really ran things, he told Falco everything, nothing was left unsaid.

"You're lying," Falco said.

"Fine, don't believe me, go ask Fox and Krystal yourself," Scythe told Falco, getting up and making his way over to the door, "They've seen some of the corruption."

"I will," Falco said, getting up and leaving the room. Scythe went on to tell Slippy as well as Peppy what he had told Falco, each time he would get the same reaction and give the same answers.

Eventually, the whole Star Fox team was told about the attack on Corneria, and the team agreed to fight alongside Shock, Ice, Fear, Scythe, and Shadow in order to help Corneria through the fight, assuming the five decided to help Corneria. Currently, the coin was still in the air, and so it was anyone's guess as to whether or not the five wolves would fight for Corneria or watch it be torn apart by this unknown group.

A few hours later, Scythe was in the shooting range, testing his assault rifle's performance, firing only single bolts to see how effective it was. The holographic figures were easily disposed of, their lifeless bodies falling to the ground after a couple shots. Thirty minutes passed since he first entered the room. Five minutes later, Krystal entered the room. He heard the door slide open and close behind him, quickly getting up from his kneeling position and turning around.

"What do you need," Scythe asked, aiming the assault rifle to the left and down at the floor.

"Oh, sorry," Krystal replied, "I was going to test my pistol, but, you're already using the range, so…"

"Come here, I'll set you up some targets," Scythe said, walking over to the computer terminal.

"You don't need to stop on my account," Krystal told him.

"I'm not, I'm satisfied with my weapon's performance," Scythe replied.

"Oh…well, thank you," Krystal said.

"You're going to want to really practice if you're going to go through with stopping the attack," Scythe spoke.

"I'm sure," Krystal said, sounding a bit distracted as the holographic figures reappeared and she began firing. Scythe waited until she ran out of ammo in the first clip to say anything.

"I recommend you bring the others in here and set up a defensive program," Scythe told her, "Except that old rabbit."

"Any particular program," Krystal asked.

"City defense, and if you aren't going to defend, city assault," Scythe replied, "Both on level ten."

"I'll remember that," Krystal spoke.

"And while you're at remembering, try to remember this," Scythe told her, "The best defense is a good offense."

"True," Krystal replied, firing a couple more rounds at the targets.

"Let me know when you and the others are ready and I'll come set it up," Scythe said, and with that, he left. She went and got him about an hour later. He followed her to the range and set it up to switch between assault and defense, the program switching to the other when the team was finished with the one they were currently on, and then he left. He made his way back to his room to take a shower, since he hadn't gotten to take one today. He entered the bathroom and began to remove his clothes

He then turned on the shower and stepped into the warm water. After he had taken his shower, the rest of the day seemed pretty boring, nothing interesting happened. Everyone ate, trained, and finally slept. To some, it would be classified as an interesting day, to him and everyone else on the ship, save the Star Fox team, it was completely boring.

Several days passed with nothing happening. The group hadn't attacked Corneria yet, so for now, things were quiet…though things wouldn't stay that way. After five days, nine carriers dropped out of hyperspace. They proceeded towards the planet of Corneria, small fighters flying out of the hangers and ahead of their carriers, destroying any resistance in their way. The fighters entered the planet's atmosphere before the Carriers managed to even get close and eliminated all aerial threats.

Once the attacking fighters destroyed the Cornerian fighters, they began to strafe the streets, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. As the fighters killed the civilians, the carriers landed as close as they could to the Cornerian HQ. Luckily for the military, General Pepper had already escaped and went underground in order to remain alive. In the deepest level of the hidden base, he attempted to contact the five individuals who had tried to warn him about this.

Shadow was in the bridge at the time when Pepper called, like he usually was.

"Are you receiving," Pepper asked as his face appeared on the screen.

"What do you want," Shadow asked, not looking away from the computer console he was working at, "Wanna beg us to help you?"

"Please," Pepper begged, "For the sake of Corneria."

"So the same planet that drove us away wants our help," Shadow spoke, "Forget it…though Star Fox might be interested."

"We can't get through to them, they're not responding," Pepper replied.

"That's because we have them, we'll give them transportation, but that's all," Shadow told Pepper.

"You won't help," Pepper asked.

"Are you fucking deaf," Shadow growled, turning away from the console he was at and looking at the screen, "You've wanted us dead for years and now you want our help, you expect us to just forgive all you've done to us and help you…no…not unless you swear to me you'll clear our records!"

"I don't know if I can—"Pepper tried to say.

"Then you're on your own, I doubt just four foot soldiers could take out that army you're dealing with," Shadow barked, "You either clear our records or you can all die down there at the hands of these pirates, it's your choice…I recommend you grow some brains and do the smart thing."

"Fine," Pepper replied.

"Good, we'll head down there as soon as we can," Shadow told Pepper.

"Thank you," Pepper replied, ending communications. Once he was off, he left the room. In reality, he had only said he would clear their records, when this was over, he was going to have them captured at best, but more likely killed…the things they'd done would never be forgiven…they would, ultimately, be punished for what they've done, even if everyone thought otherwise.

"Everyone, get to the armory," Shadow's voice rang from the speakers inside the carrier, "I'll meet you all there, and no excuses, we've got a new job, and the prize could very well be something worth far more than money." Shadow stopped speaking and quickly left the bridge, wasting no time in getting to the armory. He was the last one to arrive there, but not the last to get his equipment ready. He grabbed his katana, weapon stock, and pistols in almost no time at all.

"So what's this pay," Falco asked, "What are we gonna get?"

"Star Fox will probably just get a few credits, we won't," Shadow responded.

"And that is…?"

"Clean records, though it's not a guarantee, it's better than nothing, rather have a clean record than the one I have now, least I won't have the whole system after me."

The others were equipped in about as short a time as Shadow. Everyone was armed to the teeth, all having at very least Energy Assault Rifles and Desert Eagles, save Ice, who was simply equipped with a Desert Eagle.

"Think that's gonna protect you," Fox asked.

"I'm not going in on the ground with you," Ice replied, "Air Superiority, moron, if I don't clear those skies for you; none of you are getting in."

"He's right, McCloud," Shock said, "He's probably the most important member right now."

With that, everyone left the armory and headed for the hanger. In the hanger, two vehicles were ready, a UH-120 Black Hawk and what looked like a Standard Cornerian Starfighter, though its looks were deceiving. The Black Hawk looked almost exactly like the UH-60, only bigger and had the ability to travel through space thanks to the small engines on the bottom. Other than that, it looked exactly like the 60.

Shadow was the first into the Hawk, being the pilot. He strapped on the helmet and turned the troop transport on, the engines jumping to life and lifting it off the floor about half a foot. Ice went behind the spacecraft and jumped in his fighter. Shock, Fear, Scythe, Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy quickly entered the Hawk and took a seat. Once everyone was ready, Shadow took the Hawk out of the carrier, quickly followed by Ice, who flew ahead of them in order to clear out the skies as much as possible before they arrived.

Ice easily reached the planet first and was immediately greeted by a ton of fighters, though none were near as good as him, lacking much air time. Many of them were in the air for the first, and last time. Ice fired off a few missiles, the weapons impacting the canopies of the fighters they were fired at and exploding, sending all of the fighters down to the streets of Corneria in little bits and pieces.

The surviving fighters began following Ice, firing off their weapons as soon as they thought they would hit him. Of course, with the fact they were in the air for the first time, they all missed. Ice didn't want to waste his time firing at these amateurs, so he decided to deal with them by doing some stunt flying. The first thing he did was fly in between two buildings sideways, several fighters crashing into one of the two buildings, removing some good chunks from the buildings.

Three fighters were all that remained, the only ones smart enough to go over the buildings and not try to follow Ice in between them. Unfortunately, they lost track of Ice once they were over, since he didn't continue straight but instead took an immediate right. Ice had managed to get behind the three fighters before they could find him and fired off his pulse cannons, tearing them all apart, sending each down to the streets in a burning inferno.

The skies were far from friendly, though, twenty-five fighters weren't enough to so much as scratch the enemy air, though it did get their attention. Twenty-nine fighters were quickly drawn into a fight with the Cornerian Fighter, though these rookies were no match for this ace. Ice pulled several extremely difficult stunts, nearly slamming into the ground a couple times, in order to lose the fighters, most of the enemies on his tale actually losing control and flying into buildings and billboards, one of which advertising a strip club, 'the naughty vixen,' and one of them actually being 'the naughty vixen' itself.

When a fighter flew into the billboard and exploded, the attractive vixen on it was transformed into a burning figure, no longer recognizable, the club itself was severely damaged. Several craters were created in the street, though none were very large, though one would argue the opposite if they weren't in the air. While Ice was busy dealing with the enemy air, Shadow had finally arrived and piloted the Black Hawk over to the Cornerian Military HQ, landing the troop transport on the street in front of the building.

The front of the building on the first floor was nothing more than glass, and so everyone could see inside. A large group was in there, their attention quickly drawn to the Black Hawk. Though, their expressions turned to horror as they watched the others drop to the floor, dead. Scythe had gotten on the machine gun on the left side of the Black Hawk and began firing inside the building, glass shattering into what seemed to be billions of tiny pieces.

As he continued firing, the pirates dropped like flies, each one was filled with what looked to be a hundred bullets, although that wasn't how many times they were hit exactly. Some had their torsos torn up, falling back and bleeding to death if they were unlucky enough to survive the initial hits. Some were hit in the face; others had severely damaged limbs and simply bled to death from the limb shots and possibly several torso shots.

Once Scythe had finished firing, he quickly assembled his assault rifle, as did everyone else, save Shadow. The seven soldiers all jumped out of the Black Hawk and proceeded inside the Military HQ. Upon entering, Scythe took a moment to look around and admire the mess he had created on the first floor of the building, firing his assault rifle at anyone who seemed to have survived his assault before he spoke.

"Damn I love my job!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A Terror To Behold

Once inside, the team proceeded towards the stairs, reaching them with no trouble since Scythe had killed almost everyone on the first floor, much to his disappointment, he would've liked a fight. Once they reached the stairs, they made their way upwards. The stairs curved half way around the building, which was relatively long. Once they reached the second floor of the building, they found nobody was protecting it, though they kept their weapons out and ready just in case anything should happen where they would need to fire them. The rooms inside the entire building looked almost identical, desks covering the entire room and the outer walls of the building being nothing more than glass. The only room different being General Pepper's office on the top floor. The outer walls were glass as well, although what made it different was the fact there was only a large chair, a large desk, and what looked like a T.V. on the wall, although it was nothing more than a vidscreen

The team went up three more levels with no trouble. Finally once they reached the sixth floor, they were greeted by two armored ferrets, both male, aiming their assault rifles right at the team. The group had no time to react before the glass to the right of the ferrets shattered and blood emerged from the left sides of the ferrets' heads, the two males dropping to the floor, dead. The group ran to the broken window, looking out of the building to see who had fired that shot.

They began scanning the whatever part of the area they could until a building, a tall one, though not taller than the HQ, managed to catch their eyes with something interesting. On top of it stood a figure in a black trench, reloading a sniper rifle. It was Shadow. He had landed the Hawk nearby where it wouldn't be detected and gotten on top of a building in order to provide the team with whatever cover possible. He turned his head to the left, seeing a fighter flying down the street. It wasn't fighting Ice so it was flying straight, though it was far from moving slowly.

Having reloaded, Shadow looked down the sights of his sniper rifle and targeted the pilot's head, pulling the trigger once he was certain he wouldn't miss. Since the rifle was set to use all the energy in the magazine, the power of the shot was greatly intensified and the bolt cut right through the transparisteel canopy, burning a hole in the pilot's head. The pilot was killed instantly and the fighter went down, slamming into the ground and exploding, pieces going everywhere.

"Showoff," Scythe said, giving him the finger and continuing up the stairs, the others following soon after. The team made their way up to tenth level, stopping there as a large group was waiting for them. The group took whatever cover they could find once there, firing blindly from behind cover whenever the chance presented itself. The only cover the team had was mostly knocked over desks and steel doors leading to closets.

As the firefight continued, the glass shattered once again, the wind blowing through the entire floor. Three of the pirates dropped dead once Shadow fired. The team managed to kill twelve pirates before Shadow fired again, killing two more. The remaining two pirates, a panther and a German Shepard, knew they stood no chance and threw their weapons out towards the group, getting up from behind cover with their hands raised, though Scythe wasn't about to take any prisoners.

He walked over to them, led them to the broken window, and kicked them out of it, not wanting to waste any ammunition. The two screamed all the way down, finally being silenced once they hit the hard concrete. The others said nothing and continued upwards. They reached the twentieth floor before running into more trouble, only this was going to be more difficult. They were too high for Shadow to give them sniper support and they were up against two large droids, which looked a lot like large, very well built male cougars, only the fur and flesh was replaced by metal.

"You've got to be kidding me," Scythe said, watching the droids turn around. He placed his assault rifle on the ground and pulled the scythe off his back. Since the blade was sharp on both ends to allow for more attack possibilities, he hurled it at the droid on his right, though the droid surprisingly quickly moved to the left, caught it, and threw it out the window, knocking the glass outwards and sending it to the street below.

Meanwhile outside, a male wolf, a civilian, had just left the building he was hiding in to remain safe from the attack. He had planned to come outside and see how things were going. Not five seconds after he came out, the scythe from the Cornerian HQ came flying towards him and took off his head, instantly killing him. His head was cleanly removed and his body dropped to the ground. No doubt Scythe would be blamed for his death.

Back at the HQ, the droids lifted their arms high enough they were now pointing at the group, having wrist-mounted blasters, and began firing at the group. Scythe quickly picked up his assault rifle and jumped behind cover, as did the others. The droids continued to fire at the group while they remained behind cover. Before too long, the droids stopped firing and began to reload.

Once the droids ceased fire, all but Scythe got out from behind cover and began to fire at the droids; Scythe simply looked them over for a weak spot. He noticed that their eyes were unarmored and now vulnerable. Destroying them would at very least blind them and enable everyone to get past them without getting killed.

He aimed his assault rifle and fired a couple shots, the blue bolts hitting the droid in its left eye, destroying it. The droid was paralyzed for a few moments after being hit in the eye. Scythe fired at the other eye and succeeded in destroying it as well, the robotic cougar beginning to walk around like a blind man without a cane. Unfortunately for the droid, it ended up walking right out the window and slammed into the concrete far below, effectively destroying it.

The second droid turned around just in time to see the other droid fall out of the window, turning back to the group and firing after seeing the other droid fall out of the window. It unloaded its ammo at the cover Scythe had found, putting several dents in the metal door. When it began reloading, Scythe leaned out from behind cover to fire at its eyes once again, though Krystal beat him to it and unloaded her Desert Eagle on its eyes, the droid following in its ally's footsteps and walking right out the window.

The group then continued upwards. The rest of the building was clear, save the top floor, where General Pepper's office was located. Once they reached the top floor, the fortieth floor, they were greeted by a steel door. It was unlocked and so the group was able to get inside without any problems. Once inside, they were surprised to see nobody was there…or so they thought. The only remaining pirate inside the building was sitting in General Pepper's chair, which was large enough to conceal someone behind it if they were sitting in it with their backs to the door.

"Congratulations," a voice said. Once the word had been said, the individual in the chair rotated it around. In the chair sat a Jackal. He seemed pleased with the progress the group had made, not displeased his pirates had failed to stop them, though they might've been more successful if most of them hadn't been on the first floor when the group showed up. The Jackal slowly stood up, his body from the middle of his thighs down hidden by the desk in the center of the room he was behind.

"You have passed the test, this attack was a test for you five…though the arrival of Star Fox isn't unwelcome," the Jackal spoke, "Those who made it to the top of this building are better than the rest of the pirates I have in my organization, or better than most…but anyway, onto business…I offer you seven a position in Red Dawn…what do you say?" Before the Jackal could react, Fear pulled out his pistol and shot the Jackal in the chest, knocking him back into the chair.

"How's that for an answer," Fear asked.

"You've just made a mistake," the Jackal said, pulling a small remote from his left pants pocket and pressing a button on it. The Jackal beginning to laugh after pressing the button on the remote.

"What the hell did you just do," Falco asked.

"This building is loaded with explosive charges…in five minutes, this place is going down, and all of you along with it…you'll never get away in time," the Jackal replied.

"Get to the roof, now," Scythe yelled, heading for the elevator in the room, which lead to the roof.

"Fools," the Jackal said, and with that, he died. The entire group piled onto the elevator and they were quickly moved up to the roof. Once they were on the roof, Shock pulled out a radio and began yelling into it.

"Shadow, are you getting this," Shock shouted.

"I get you," Shadow replied.

"The HQ is loaded with explosives, get up here and fast, we have four minutes," Shock told shadow.

"Oh, fuck," Shadow replied, and with that, he took off. Since he could provide no more cover to the group, he had left the building and gotten back into the Hawk. The troop transport lifted off the ground and began heading towards the HQ. At that very same moment, the Cornerian Military began to launch fighters from underground.

They had an underground runway ready in case of attack, and this was, in their minds, the perfect time to use it, though in reality, their timing couldn't have been more off. The pilots' orders were to destroy everything in the air, unless they had been marked on the radar as friendly back at the runway, and unfortunately, nobody in the group General Pepper had contacted were marked as friendly, and so were fair game.

The fighters began to fly straight for the HQ, their first target being the UH-120. The leader began to fire on the Black Hawk, his blasters hitting the tail a couple times and moving closer to the cockpit, though not getting there, not doing any immediate visible major damage, but doing some visible damage. Shadow momentarily lost control, nearly slamming into the HQ, though he got control of the transport before that happened.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys," Shadow yelled, "I'm on your side, you dumbasses!"

Ice immediately saw what happened and began to follow the thirty fighters, firing his blasters a couple times and eliminating two, each of them flying towards the streets of Corneria in a burning inferno…both pilots dying, one didn't eject and Ice shooting the other while he was in the air after his parachute had deployed. The twenty-eight fighters quickly noticed this and turned on Ice.

While Ice had them distracted, Shadow began piloting the ship upwards towards the roof of the Cornerian HQ when the warning light inside the ship began going off, as well as an alarm. He looked over the Hawk's systems to see what was wrong. The fuel tank had been hit and the liquid from the tank began pouring out of the transport and falling to the streets of Corneria. Shadow had little time to react, and time was against them all. He had three minutes to fix this problem, get his teammates and the Star Fox team off the roof of the Cornerian HQ in two minutes, and get everyone off Corneria.

It seemed it was impossible, with the fuel leaving the Black Hawk as fast as it was, there was no way to get up to the top of the HQ, let alone get everyone off Corneria. It seemed fate had conspired against them and they were destined to die here…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Deceiver

The explosives detonated and the Cornerian Military HQ disappeared in a huge explosion. Glass shattered and was flung in every direction; several other pieces of the building were knocked off and fell to the ground. When the fire was gone, there was nothing left but smoke and rubble. Several buildings around the HQ were destroyed as well. Shortly after the HQ exploded, General Pepper left the underground hideout to see what had happened.

He was shocked to discover the HQ was gone, as were several buildings. He made his way over to the HQ, not being very far away from it to begin with, and stared at the rubble. He let out a sigh and looked upwards. He then noticed something strange. A black piece of clothing began to float down to the streets of Corneria. He caught it in his right hand and looked at it. There was a patch on it that read "Scythe", it seemed Scythe didn't make it…seemed he had died during the mission.

"One less fugitive to hunt down," General Pepper thought to himself. A few hours later, the military discovered the civilian who had been killed by the scythe the droids flung out the window, as well as the weapon itself. Scythe was blamed for it, and the entire city quickly learned of it as well, none believing he was innocent. General Pepper had ordered the military to hunt down the four remaining members, Fear, Ice, Shadow, and Shock.

The military never found them, nor did they find clues as to there whereabouts. When they returned and told General Pepper of their findings, Fear, Ice, Shock, and Shadow were marked down as dead. The bounties came off their heads, the bounty hunters stopped hunting for them, and the death of the team was put in the papers the very next day. Around noon the day the paper with the team's death came out, five hooded individuals arrived, one of which bought a paper and read to the others what it said once they found a place where only they would hear what was said.

"Shadow, Scythe, Fear, Shock, and Ice dead," he read, "These five individuals were behind the attack on Corneria several days ago. They wished to take Corneria and nearly succeeded if it had not been for the heroics of Star Fox. They fought their way through an army of pirates and into the HQ, where they met the five criminals. They fought long and hard, eventually winning. Unable to accept defeat, one of the five criminals destroyed the Cornerian HQ in an attempt to eliminate Star Fox. Star Fox's whereabouts are currently unknown."

"Wha'd'ya known," one of the hooded individuals said, "We're dead."

"Should've known they'd give Star Fox credit for our deaths," Ice spoke.

"Yeah, well, they always get the credit," Shock told Ice.

"Great thinking on your part, Shadow," Scythe said.

"I knew it would be a good idea to have a spare tank in the Hawk," Shadow replied.

After a short conversation, the group left Corneria. A few days later, the group forwarded a few credits to Star Fox's bank account, just enough to get ROB fixed. The team did so and reactivated him after he was repaired. Once online, ROB was back to normal. It was as if nothing happened. A month later, Star Fox returned to their usual work.

After several months of taking up missions, Scythe grew tired of the daily routine and left the group, never to return. He ended up meeting a vixen who was very similar to him, she had the same interests, could hold her own in a fight just as well as him, if he didn't know better, he'd think she was a modified clone of himself. She was a few inches shorter than him, five to be exact, her fur was tan, and she had several white markings on her body. She was apparently Cerinian.

They became friends after a while and became bounty hunters shortly afterwards. After several months of hunting wanted individuals and accumulating a couple hundred thousand credits, they found a home on Titania and ended up getting married, later having a son.


End file.
